Books we've been reading V2.0

[Guard Dog]

Now reading Sharpe's Victory by Cromwell. Every time I read one of these I get the urge to play Empire:Total War

[Serrano]

I'm listening to book 2 of The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane. So far it's a bit like Gladiator in reverse with Asterix's Obelix as the best friend, Getafix as a total badass and Hannah Baxter as the protagonist's long-lost twin. I've also bought and heard a little of the Borne Identity audiobook, it's great and seems to be a wildly different story from the movie even if it shares the basic outline.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Serrano

[WDeranged]

I finished A Clash of Kings the other day, which I was reading more or less along with the series. It's horrible.

 

I finished it yesterday, it was really fun but the TV series added some new plot elements that worked so much better...apart from Daenerys

 

 

defeating those weird frozen zombie mages in the tower

 

 

the TV show really butchered that bit.

 

The real question now is whether to start on book 3, I'm not sure I can wait a year for the next season, apparently this is where it starts to get really dark, I've read several posts from people who threw the book across the room in outrage and I kinda want to see what the fuss is about.

Edited August 4, 2012 by WDeranged

[Malcador]

Had a nice sprint, read two 40k books, Know No Fear and The Primarchs. The former is a case of taking a relatively short story and dragging it out, I did like the jumps in scenes before the ambush at Calth. Guilliman in space with no helmet, well..yeah. Second one was meh.

 

Finally got around to Day of the Jackal, was an entertaining thriller, a bit convenient for Lebel to show up at the right place near the end, but eh. And next up is Leviathan Wakes, I'm hoping this is a decent space opera novel, first time I've bought a book on the back cover so to speak, heh

Edited August 9, 2012 by Malcador

[Raithe]

Picked up an independently epublished book from Amazon called "Quicker" by Laurence Dahner. Not a heavy read, but a fairly fun "light" near future sci-fi story. Got me interested enough to pick up the next 3 novels he's done on the series. Definitely has that feel that crosses something from Honor Harrington with EE Doc Smiths area, but aimed more for the teenage audience. Each one's around 200-250 pages, but they hold together fairly well with some interesting characters. The sci-fi is fairly minimalistic, but nicely thought out. It's not earth shaking, but it's entertaining.

[Fionavar]

Half way through Storm of Swords ... plus an excessive pile of magazines that is getting smaller as I travel!

[Gorgon]

 

Tyrion shot Tywin WTF.

 

 

Reading book 5.

[Meshugger]

I just read all the five books of the a song of ice and fire-series. Now what to do? :-/

 

The real question now is whether to start on book 3, I'm not sure I can wait a year for the next season, apparently this is where it starts to get really dark, I've read several posts from people who threw the book across the room in outrage and I kinda want to see what the fuss is about.

 

Remember the words: "Red Wedding"

Edited August 12, 2012 by Meshugger

[Gorgon]

I don't see what all the fuss is about. It has a few highlights here and there, but I wouldn't call it much better than average for the fantasy shelf. At least it's easily digestible. Maybe that's its strenght.

 

Liked the TV series better than the book(s), which is an incredibly odd thing to hear yourself say.

[Monte Carlo]

Am reading Reamde by Neal Stephenson,

 

published in 2011. The story, set in the present day, centers on the plight of a hostage and the ensuing efforts of family and new acquaintances, many of them associated with a fictional MMORPG, to rescue her as her various captors drag her about the globe. Topics covered range from online activities including gold farming and social networking to the criminal methods of the Russian mafia and Islamic terrorists.

 

I wish I was as clever as this guy, even if he is a bit too clever for his own good now and then.

 

I think a lot of the people here would dig it.

[Malcador]

Is it 200 pages too long, though ?

[Monte Carlo]

Gimme a break I ain't finished it. On my e-reader its 308 pages long... so I guess not.

[Gorgon]

Mads Mikkelsen as Mance Rayder, but then it turned out to be an internet rumor.

 

It would be awesome though. He doesn't even have to say anything to pull off Mance Rayder, he could just stand there... brooding.

 

[Malcador]

Gimme a break I ain't finished it. On my e-reader its 308 pages long... so I guess not.

 

Wow, that's small for Stephenson. I guess he got a good editor

[Raithe]

For those Wheel of Time fans out there, this might be something of interest..

 

Tor Blog : Revelations from the "A Memory of Light" Preview at Dragoncon

 

The question and answer portion during the packed Memory of Light preview yielded some stunning new facts, especially in regards to what portions of the final three Wheel of Time books Robert Jordan left for fans of the series. Do you know where Brandon cameos in the books? And what huge surprise is waiting for readers at the end of A Memory of Light?

 

Video and exact wordings from the Q&A is forthcoming later this week, but in the meantime, here's a summary to tide you over!

 

First, the Read and Find Outs (RAFOs):

 

[Gfted1]

After 50 years, original Marvel Comics X-Man to be killed off -- by his prized student!

 

Spoiler Alert.

[ravenshrike]

Let's see, just reread the Monster Hunter International series, which starts off with this

On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window.

Now, I didn't just wake up that morning and decide that I was going to kill my boss with my bare hands. It really was much more complicated than that. In my life up to that point I would never have even considered something that sounded so crazy. I was just a normal guy, a working stiff. Heck, I was an accountant. It doesn't get much more mundane than that.

 

That one screwed-up event changed my life. Little did I realize that turning my boss into sidewalk pizza would have so many bizarre consequences. Well, technically, he did not actually hit the sidewalk. He landed on the roof of a double-parked Lincoln Navigator, but I digress.

 

My name is Owen Zastava Pitt and this is my story.

 

And am currently reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. A fan-fic arguably much better than the books. It is best described as sticking a 20 year old Richard Feynman in an 11 year old Harry Potter and watching the ensuing hilarity

 

"Just Professor will do," said she, and then, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Harry looked at his father.

"Huh," Harry said.

His father looked back at him. "Huh," his father echoed.

Then Professor Verres-Evans looked back at Professor McGonagall. "All right, you can put me down now."

His father was lowered carefully to the ground.

Harry ruffled a hand through his own hair. Maybe it was just that strange part of him which had already been convinced, but... "That's a bit of an anticlimax," Harry said. "You'd think there'd be some kind of more dramatic mental event associated with updating on an observation of infinitesimal probability -" Harry stopped himself. Mum, the witch, and even his Dad were giving him that look again. "I mean, with finding out that everything I believe is false."

Seriously, it should have been more dramatic. His brain ought to have been flushing its entire current stock of hypotheses about the universe, none of which allowed this to happen. But instead his brain just seemed to be going, All right, I saw the Hogwarts Professor wave her wand and make your father rise into the air, now what?

The witch-lady was smiling benevolently upon them, looking quite amused. "Would you like a further demonstration, Mr. Potter?"

"You don't have to," Harry said. "We've performed a definitive experiment. But..." Harry hesitated. He couldn't help himself. Actually, under the circumstances, he shouldn't be helping himself. It was right and proper to be curious. "What else can you do?"

Professor McGonagall turned into a cat.

Harry scrambled back unthinkingly, backpedalling so fast that he tripped over a stray stack of books and landed hard on his bottom with a thwack. His hands came down to catch himself without quite reaching properly, and there was a warning twinge in his shoulder as the weight came down unbraced.

At once the small tabby cat morphed back up into a robed woman. "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter," said the witch, sounding sincere, though the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. "I should have warned you."

Harry was breathing in short gasps. His voice came out choked. "You can't DO that!"

"It's only a Transfiguration," said Professor McGonagall. "An Animagus transformation, to be exact."

"You turned into a cat! A SMALL cat! You violated Conservation of Energy! That's not just an arbitrary rule, it's implied by the form of the quantum Hamiltonian! Rejecting it destroys unitarity and then you get FTL signalling! And cats are COMPLICATED! A human mind can't just visualise a whole cat's anatomy and, and all the cat biochemistry, and what about the neurology? How can you go on thinking using a cat-sized brain?"

[BruceVC]

I am currently reading Reapers Gale, by Steven Erikson. Its the 7 th book in a very complex and thoroughly entertaining 10 book fantasy saga called Malazan Book of the Fallen.

 

I wouldn't say the series is as gripping as George R R Martin but definitely worth reading if you enjoy your fantasy

[Raithe]

The prologue for the finale to Wheel of Time is making the rounds. They released it as "By Grace and Banners Fallen". Now it's the wait until the full release in January.. I suppose after the better part of just under two decades it's nice to see it come to a close and see how much gets wrapped up.

 

The prologue firmly teases a few areas out...

[Hiro Protagonist]

Since I pre-ordered the Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition, I've been reading the old avatar series and wanted to go back to where it all began. Have finished Shadowdale and Tantras and now reading Waterdeep. Haven't read these since the early 90s. A lot of small things I'd fogotten and it's great reading a low level adventuring party and knowing what they eventually become.

[Humanoid]

Reading Tyler Hamilton's recent, as in released this month, and controversial book - The Secret Race (or to give the full, and slightly awkward title, The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs).

 

Now if you've ever made more than a cursory glance at my sig, you've probably surmised my position on the matter, a position I've held for a number of years now. Passions are pretty high when discussing the topic and minds are hard to change, but it's a cracking read: sure it's not a bounty of massive revelations, not to say there aren't any, but what it mainly does is add a personal, relatable angle to the cold facts that many have known for years. Previous books on the subject, most notably the Sunday Times' chief sports writer David Walsh's 2007 groundbreaker From Lance to Landis read clinically, as would be expected for the piece of investigative journalism that it was. Hamilton's book adds colour to the greyscale world drawn from the fragmented shards of truth compiled over the years, done as only an insider could do, and as such, adds another layer of fascination to its reading.

[Enoch]

I'm about a year late on this one, but: Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline.

 

The writing is a bit simplistic (although that does fit the narrator), and some of the puzzles are a little too easy for verisimillitude's sake. But the pacing is admirable and the constant stream of 80s-era nerd-culture references is delightful.

[Hurlshort]

Just finished Dance with Dragons. I enjoyed the reading, but it is fairly amazing how little the plot moved forward in 1000 pages. Ah well, more people are dead, I'm assuming the last book will simply be a long list of every character being dead.

[Tale]

I'm currently on either Equal Rites, A Clash of Kings, Gauntlgrym, or Slaughterhouse-Five.

 

I'm actually pretty fickle with books at the moment. Though Pratchett always holds my attention better than the rest.

[Raithe]

I've done a blitz through a couple of Baen's eArc's this last month.

 

Weber's latest addition to the Honorverse - Shadow of Freedom, Ringo's return to the Kildar - Tiger by the Tail, and the newest Liaden Universe book - Necessity's Child.

 

Actually re-read a bunch of the Liaden Universe at the start of the month, and I have to admit the best description still sticks with me; "it's like someone threw Star Wars and Pride & Prejudice into a mixer then added some more wit and humour."